Judith Whitehouse took a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at the University of East London (1992) and this was followed by an MA in Fine Art from the University of Sunderland in 2000. Her work has been widely exhibited in Cornwall and beyond.
Her work is underpinned by an exploration of the philosophy and practice of geometry.
The second oldest sister of the four who shared a house with their domestic servants at Lelant. It is unclear whether or not she was a practising artist. Presumably by agreement with her sisters, the year after her mother died, she also removed 14 years from her age, keeping her within the correct sequence amongst her sisters.
Born in Leamington, Sarah was the eldest of four sisters (Daisy, Jeannie and Louise), all of whom were artists. She was an early member of the St Ives Arts Club, along with her three sisters (Three Misses Whitehouse, a painting by their father, is illustrated in Whybrow). They travelled widely and together, painting scenes from the many countries in Europe that they visited. In 1893 Sarah was awarded the bronze medal for painting at the Academie Delacluse and in 1897 a first prize for Interior and Figure in competition.
In 1901 she exhibited and sold Harbour Twilight at NAG. She exhibited widely in provincial galleries. In 1911 the St Ives Times commented on her gift to St John's church with the headline 'Dedication of Altar Panels', 'On Sunday last (Christmas Eve) four Altar Panels designed and executed by the donor Miss S E Whitehouse were dedicated at St Ives.The artist has taken for her subject four Archangels out of-to quote Milton's words-"The seven, Who in God's presence, nearest to His throne, stand ready at command".
In 1996 her work, St Ives Harbour, was included in the group exhibition at Falmouth of Women Artists in Cornwall 1880-1940. An illustration of her painting Laura Knight painting at St Ives, was reprinted at p11 in the accompanying exhibition catalogue.
The youngest of the four Whitehouse sisters who lived for many years around St Ives, Halsetown and Lelant. All four were daughters of William F, a prosperous merchant and landowner, and his wife Sarah, who lived in Leamington Priors, Warwickshire, and were parents to seven children (four girls and three boys) in all.
Whybrow notes one brother, also a painter and architect, who set up the Hyde Park Fine Art Gallery in London and reproduced paintings by 'autotype method' (p 80). After their father died (1882), the girls and their mother moved around, some travelling abroad, and Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE and Mary Jane WHITEHOUSE lodging on the Isle of Wight (1891). Shortly thereafter they settled in West Cornwall. After her mother died (1900) Daisy, as did all her sisters by various amounts, reduced her age by 10 years, claiming in the 1901 Census that she was born in 1874.
The third of four sisters, all of whom were probably artists and travelled extensively on the continent and within Britain. The family home was at Leamington Priors in Warwickshire. She exhibited at St Ives in March 1912, and again in 1913. A Miss Whitehouse (? possibly Louisa WHITEHOUSE) exhibited at NAG in 1912. In replying to census questions, as recorded in 1901, she offered 1871 as her birth year, shaving 14 years from her age. The sisters all worked from St Peters Street Studio, St Ives.
Masako Whitehouse was born in Japan but studied art in the UK, most recently at Falmouth College of Art, where she obtained a BA in Fine Art in 2002. She exhibits with Drawn to the Valley.
The artist exhibited and sold a painting at the NAG in 1912. Probably a misprint in the records for Louise WHITEHOUSE.
Whiting arrived in Cornwall in 1988 after living in London and Spain. She was a part-time lecturer in photography at Falmouth College of Art, while exhibiting her work around Cornwall and the South West. She remains based at Falmouth (2010).
Whiting was born and grew up in Hull, Yorkshire, where his first success was in winning his school art prize. His education continued at Newcastle, Portsmouth and Falmouth Colleges of Art, where he graduated with a DipAD (Hons) and a PGDip in Fine Art. Noted as 'A significant painter' by the artist Bryan INGHAM, his paintings of post-industrial Cornwall are strongly worked and powerful landscapes of the West Cornish scenes in which he lives.
Phil has travelled widely, especially in 2005, when working on a series of paintings called Places of Mourning in the Western World, which took him to Flanders, Ground Zero, Auschwitz-Birkenau amongst various other geographical sites. For researching that series he also visited sites in Bosnia, Russia, Syria and Lebanon.
His paintings also appear on the website for the 'Survivors of Srebrenica' organisation.
In 2017 Whiting was the winner of the Red Line Art Works Annual Award. The citatation for this award states: 'Phil's art incorporates big events and issues, their awful consequences and our responsibilities for them. His work raises tough questions about what we humans have done, what we have failed to do, what we have looked away from, who we really are, what we should be. This is rare and powerful art which penetrates and can leave its mark on us.'
Frank Ruhrmund, our long-standing and indefatigible reviewer of art for the Cornishman Newspaper, has graciously provided (4 Aug 2011) a recent summary of the art and theological life of the Rev James Whitlock, affectionately known to locals and all as 'Jim'. Rather than try to match it, an extract is offered here:
'...Jim studied at the West of England Academy in Bristol and at Brighton College of Art. One who subsequently lectured in painting and printmaking at colleges of art in Bradford and Birmingham, it was almost 50 years ago that he came to St Ives, where he helped set up the Penwith Society's print workshop and studio. However, as happy as he was as a painter and printmaker, the call of the Church became even stronger. In the early 1970s, he left the town and his studio for Cambridge to read for a MA in Theology. For the next 30 years he dedicated his life to the Church, mostly in Cornwall, became the vicar of the three churches in Penzance, and was eventually honoured as a Canon Emeritus at Truro Cathedral, before retiring and resuming his artistic career. That was just over a decade ago, during which time he has exhibited extensively throughout Cornwall, enjoyed several solo shows in St Elwyn's Church, Hayle and in the old Mariners Gallery in St Ives...'
Jim lives and works from Newlyn.
Born on 27 April 1861, Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA. First he studied in France and then arrived in Newlyn in the early 1890s, the 1891 Census indicating that he was resident at Orchard Cottage, Belle Vue.
He married Mabel Turner, remembered in her family as an amateur artist. Mabel gave birth to their son John Thoreau Whitmore in Newlyn in 1893. They remained in West Cornwall until about 1896 and were friends with the GOTCH family. The painter died on 14 September, 1917 in Woodmont, Connecticut, age 56. (USA certificates in WCAA)
Jo Whitney was born in Essex. From 1961 to 1963 she studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art in Oxford. This was followed by a year at the Sir John Cass College in London. Inspired by Bonnard, Vuillard and Sickert, Jo began her artistic career as a figurative and portrait painter, later developing her skill at representing the city scenes and landscapes she encountered both at home and during extensive travels abroad.
In 1967 she moved to east Cornwall, where she spent the next twenty years. During this time she exhibited at the Bay Tree Gallery in Liskeard and several other mid-Cornwall galleries.
In 2014 Whitney returned to east Cornwall after 15 years living and working in Scotland, where her work was shown in a number of solo exhibitions. Her paintings have been included in the Discerning Eye exhibition in the Mall Gallery in London, and also the National Pastel Society annual exhibition.
A number of her portraits are held in private collections in the UK and abroad.
In 2012 a retrospective exhibition of her work was held at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, which included a 1990s sketch of Fred YATES.
Whittaker was born and brought up in Drogheda, Ireland. His bookselling career - secondhand and rare - began in 1976 on the Charing Cross Road in London, and continues to this day in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.
In 2003 he published the first in a planned series Footnotes on a Landscape: Engagements with Art and Place in West Penwith. The first study, published as Zawn Lens, Words & Images from West Cornwall included not only his own amazingly evocative photographs in colour and black & white, but also poetry and memoirs of a number of the Penwith artists and creators: Peter LANYON, Tony O'MALLEY and Jane O'MALLEY, Bryan WYNTER, Colin SCOTT, W S Graham, Wilhelmina BARNS-GRAHAM and Rowena Cade amongst others. Though an art photographer, with many exhibitions to his credit, David is also an accomplished writer.
His photographs of West Cornwall have been shown at the Arts Club in Penzance, and in mixed shows in St Ives.
There is also a Cornish born painter in mixed media of the same name, see David WHITTAKER (Kernow)
David Whittaker is a self-taught artist who was born in Cornwall, and is based in Newquay. He was the winner of the National Open Art Competition in 2011. His work has been seen at the Royal West of England Academy and several times at the London Art Fair. Whittaker's paintings have been the subject of a number of solo shows at the Millennium Gallery in St Ives, which has also included his work in group exhibitions.
There is also an Irish born photographer, printmaker and author of the same name, see David WHITTAKER (Eire)
Jon Whitten studied Art History at the University of East Anglia, and ceramics with William Newland, Michael Leach and Roger Cockram. His functional stoneware pots are influenced both by the Leach tradition and contemporary design. His work has been exhibited worldwide.
Astrid Whitton is a ceramicist who lives and works from a studio near Wadebridge.
Leo was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. Her studies in fine art at Newcastle University were followed by two years painting and teaching in Sicily. Returning to the UK she became senior lecturer in painting at Falmouth School of Art, and a member of the NSA, and a member of NAG's Council for a short time. Latterly she gave up teaching to paint full time, and established a summer school in painting and the arts in Italy with her colleague and partner, David WESTBY.
Together they have renovated an amazing set of ruins and constructed a residential centre for the fine arts in Italy (Il Collegio, Puglia) which welcomes working visits from international artists. The story of their hard work and creative determination has featured in the BBC series, Grand Designs. Her passionate interest in the Romanesque and early Renaissance painting has contributed to the visual treat that their Italian home presents.
Born at West Bromwich, West Midlands. Known date of working in West Cornwall is recorded in Edgbastonia 1881 (copy of the article on file in WCAA).
Roger Langley, in his latest research on the life and work of his grandfather, Walter LANGLEY, comments 'Charles Henry Whitworth might justifiably be regarded as one of the two 'invisible' Newlyn artists, along with William ROLLASON, for little is known of either yet both exhibited numerous Newlyn scenes over a good period of years - longer, indeed, than many of the better known artists.'
Whitworth was born at West Bromwich and studied at Birmingham School of Art, where he was a younger contemporary of Edwin HARRIS, William BREAKSPEARE and Walter LANGLEY. Soon after they all finished their studies in 1879, the move toward West Cornwall was gathering steam. In 1881 he was one of the Birmingham group that were listed as lodging at Cliff House, Newlyn.
Langley lists an extensive list of his paintings spanning the years 1881 (Grey Day, Fishing Boats Returning exhibited at the Birmingham Art Circle exhibition) through 1893 (Calm Morning, Mounts Bay, oil) with multiples in between. In 1901, at the age of 45, Whitworth (a bachelor) was the Headmaster of the School of Art in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffs.
Whitworth died on 31 January 1933, age 77, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (GRO).
Born in St Pancras, London, Whybrow came to St Ives in 1980 with his wife, the art historian and novelist, Marion Davis WHYBROW. Terry is a painter always focused on 'the stillness' of his images, that which he calls 'harmony and silence'. 'Having travelled through figuration, abstraction and back, the same objectives remain. Harmony and Silence.'
When living in London his 'paintings were hard edged abstractions of urban life,' but since coming to Cornwall 'all previous ideas and influences were overshadowed by the strength and textures of Cornwall' [from artist's statement, Falmouth AG exhibition 2000]. His paintings are held in private collections around the globe, and in Cornwall. Falmouth Art Gallery also holds his work in their public collection.
Terry Whybrow died in St Ives in March 2020.
When Marion and Terry WHYBROW first came to Cornwall in 1980 and settled in St Ives, Marion was a primary school teacher, with a degree in 19th century literature and its legacy, and a teaching certificate from the London Institute of Education. She had been teaching full time, producing the school magazine, and taking the extra responsibility of encouraging children to be creative writers. In Cornwall this translated into part-time and supply teaching, and undertaking articles for the St Ives Times & Echo on art exhibitions and various other (usually art related) events. Her husband Terry was and remains a full-time artist.
Marion was the organiser of 'Inspire' promoting exhibitions for painters, potters and sculptors, selecting artists, writing catalogues and arranging venues. Co-director with publisher Toni Carver (St Ives Times) and together with Colin ORCHARD, designer, she also organised several book fairs, writers' days, Open Studio events and arts-related Town Trails for St Ives. In 1990 she organised the Arts & Crafts Exhibition for six schools in St Ives to celebrate the centenary year of the St Ives Arts Club (STIAC).
As such a town 'servant' one could describe her as the original back-room girl for the artists, and out of these activities she took on the pioneering role of contemporary historian and documenter of the artists' colony of St Ives, a path which several others have followed up with in-depth studies of individual artists and major surveys of particular aspects of the creative colonies (such as marine painting, landscape painters, and defined periods).
Marion made her own contribution to the contemporary artists of West Cornwall, by publishing a series of small books about painters, potters and sculptors around her from 1984-1996 (listed below) which still stand as a useful record about artists, most of whom are still alive today, but about whom little personal information may be available, due to lack of literature such as biographies or critical reviews. These little books offered a portrait of the artist-craftsman at an earlier time in their career, usually in their private studio, with a personal statement.
But meantime, with a research grant from the University of Exeter, Marion produced her first major book 1883-1993 Portrait of an Art Colony, to coincide with the opening of the Tate Gallery, St Ives (1993), published by the Antique Collectors Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk. The book was launched at the Tate St Ives, and remains a treasured archive of detail about art and artists in St Ives, and West Cornwall. From this pioneering work, much else has been forthcoming from other researchers and historians.
Marion's contribution to the history of art and artists in Cornwall is immense, as will be seen from her bibliography. Her social contributions to the organisations that back up and support 'the creative industries' as arts and crafts seem to be called today, are equally great, i.e. STIAC, Tate Gallery St Ives, Leach Pottery, and archives such as the St Ives Archive Trust and the West Cornwall Art Archive. She was an active member of the Hypatia Trust, and contributed a large number of photographs and mementos to the West Cornwall Art Archive project of the Trust.
She died on 19 July, 2015, aged 83, leaving her artist husband Terry, two daughters, and four grandchildren and many friends in the literary and visual arts worldwide.
Teresa Wicksteed was born in Sussex and educated in London. From the University of Leeds she attained a BA (Hons) in English, followed by an MA. Subsequently she obtained a PGCE in London, where she had a wide-ranging teaching career. She moved to the Rame peninsula in south-east Cornwall in the early 1990s. In 2002 she graduated from Falmouth College of Arts with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. A fellow student at Falmouth was Moreen MOSS, who became a close friend.
Teresa works from a studio overlooking the sea. Her work is concerned with 'the immaterial, rather than the material world'. She says: 'The daily changes of light on the water feed my inner vision. I try to express in paint the transformative energy of my personal spiritual journey'. She describes her painting as 'a process of concealment and revelation'.
She has exhibited widely in both group and solo shows in Devon, Cornwall and London. Many of her works have found homes in therapeutic locations such as an osteopathy practice, an acupuncture practice, a yoga teaching room and two hospices.
Born in Exeter, the son of the artist William WIDGERY, Frederick studied at Exeter School of Art, at Antwerp under Verlat and at the Bushey School of Art under Herkomer. In 1890 he exhibited at the RCPS at Falmouth.
He became Chairman of Exeter Public Art Gallery and a Magistrate of the City. His landscapes of south-west England featured especially Dartmoor, and the cliffs and moors of Devon and Cornwall.
Livvy is autistic. She produces wonderfully lively paintings using bird and animal designs. She exhibits her work at Spindrift Gallery in Portscatho.
American (b New York) painter working from Carrack Dhu, St Ives, with his wife, Grace, and his daughter, May, also working artists.
A full page coloured plate of Man in a White Coat (detail) by this artist in 1994, is included in the Public Foundation Catalogue for Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly (p39). It a painting forming part of the University College Falmouth Art Collection in which he has other works.
She and her husband spent much of the 1920s and 1930s abroad. In 1939 they were living in Exeter but in 1946 she was working as a physiotherapist in Calstock, east Cornwall. She exhibited at the 1949 'Foresters Hall' exhibition in Polperro, showing a number of portraits which were painted in Trinidad, and also paintings of seagulls.
Alongside her involvement with Polperro artists, she became a member of STISA, with whom she exhibited in 1950-1951. She then moved to Sussex but after her husband's death she moved back to Devon, and was living in Budleigh Salterton at the time of her death.